Here’s how you can parent less and give your children space to try, fail, and grow from it | Daisy Turnbull Brown

Parenting should get easier over time, not harder. Your role should be to gradually work yourself out of a job

Being told to parent your child less sounds pretty good. That is exactly what multiple authors are now telling us: that today’s kids are less resilient, less able to self-regulate, less respectful and carry less responsibilities – all because of overparenting. Judith Locke argues that this has led to hyper-responsive parenting, which in turn makes very few demands on our kids. This hugely impacts a child’s ability to develop key skills that they need to be successful adults.

Jonathan Haidt argues that we are not giving children the chance to play outside. He notes that today’s children on average only first play outside unsupervised from the age of 10 to 12, where for us it was more like five or six. This is in a time where society is by all accounts safer than it ever has been. What began as legitimate safety concerns in the 1990s has led to a situation where even if parents intellectually supported free play, no one wants to be the first parent to let their kid bike ride to the grocery store and buy some milk, lest they are judged.

Related: There is evidence Bluey can teach you how to be a better parent | Koa Whittingham, Amy Mitchell and Ben Mitchell

Related: John Marsden on the 'toxic' parenting pandemic: 'I’ve never seen this level of anxiety'

Related: Leave those kids alone: 'helicopter parenting' linked to behavioural problems

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2yGjqSv